The Chronicles of Casidar Erahe

[sir archely]

This thread is devoted to the adventures of one Casidar Erahe, the character I play in the DnD Forgotten Realms game run by Malcor. All that follows is in story. If you want to make comments, go ahead, but i probably won't reply to them directly in this thread.

Oh, i would ask, however, that any who play/ed in this game point out an errors i make. My translation from log to this format isn't always perfect.

[sir archely]

My name is Casidar Erahe, and if you share a slow tankard of ale with me, i'd be glad to share my story with you. As you can probably see, i'm a so-called "wild" elf. Although, looking at my current situation, I'm far from wild. I did grow up with a tribe of wild elves in the High Forest, and much of my early life was spent being a semi-nomad within the bounds of the Forest. We were constantly in skirmishes with the centaurs and with the orcs coming down from the Spine of the World. It was these orcs that caused me to be sitting in front of you at this tavern today.

I was a young boy, and I followed my father everywhere. We would often take hunting trips together, him teaching me the ways of the forest and of Solonor Thelandira and the bow. It was one of these hunting trips when we were ambushed by a small party of orcs. We could only stand and fight. I stood by my father and shot with him. We slew many orcs that day, but it was for nothing. After the fighting, my joy at being alive was soon smothered as I saw that my father had taken a mortal wound. He died there, in that small clearing in the brush. I was alone.

I buried him there, as is the way of Solonor. I wandered then, not in my right mind. Eventually I tried returning to my community, i didn't find it destroyed, i just didn't find it. There were signs that some sort of struggle had taken place, and my community had moved on, thinking myself and my father dead. For the second time in my life I was a wanderer. I had no direction or purpose. All I had was my bow and my limited skills to keep me alive. I stumbled around in the forest, always just one step ahead of losing my life. It was then that I stumbled out of the forest, the only world I had known.

Outside of the forest I was completely lost, but I felt that I had been forsaken, and I couldn't go back to that life. Time and time again I was taken advantage of. I would think to find a friend, only to have them betray me. For a time I worked with a man who went by the name of Parnel Koaln. I have no way of knowing if that was his real name, but that's the one that I won't forget. He took me in, he was fond of taking in strays. He found me on the road, him with his wagon and me with my rags. He offered me a ride and a decent meal. Of course I accepted, it would have been stupid not to. Or so I thought at the time. He said he was a traveling man, a performer. It seemed he would perform just about anywhere and was always on the move. I later learned why he was always on the move. There were three others like me, former beggars Koaln had taken in. We were part of the act. We'd dance and act like fools in the street, and look for handouts. Meanwhile Koaln and his two partners would wander among the crowd, pick pocketing what they could, and conning distracted people. It occasionally led to murder when they could convince someone to follow them into the alley for some reason or another. At first, i was too blind to see what was happening. I didn't know that the food i was eating wasn't right for the money people threw at me. I didn't see that Parnel and his pals had far too much to be street entertainers. Then I saw one of them return from an alley bloody. I was curious and went to see what had happened. I saw the dead man and in an instant everything snapped into focus. I saw what I had been doing all the time, and I was horrified.

At that moment I just ran. I didn't know where I was going, but i knew i had to get away from there. I learned from this, and made up my mind that I would learn to support myself. My only real skill being with the bow, I made my way to Waterdeep to join the Guard. I applied, only to be turned down. I was told I didn't have what it took to make a good Guardsman. Those fools, even at that time I could have probably outshot most of the bowmen they had. Of course, at that time I didn't know one end of a sword from the other; but, as you can see by the longsword at my side, that lack has since been taken care of. In fact, it was one of the old bowmen in the Guard at the time who remedied the lack. He saw the potential in me, befriended me and, when he had time, he trained me. Wary of any easy friendship, I soon learned that he was genuine. I was a fairly quick learner and I'm a decent hand with the sword now, though my skill in that will never surpass my abilities with my bow. I matured much under his teaching, and when he passed, I realized that the Guard wasn't the place for me after all. Now, only knowing the ways of a fighter, I do what work I can for people who need a hired blade...or bow.

Still, I try to recall and come back to the faith of my youth. I'm no longer in the forest, and I have a hard time following Solonor at times, but I'm trying. Ah, I see the business I have come here for is about to be discussed. I must leave you friend, but I thank you for the ale, perhaps some time I must buy you a pint and you will return a story for a story. May you find the blessing of Solonor.

[sir archely]

Hello again friend, back at the Bowels of the Earth? Or still here? You know, the ale at this place isn't that good. I myself am lucky to be back. A few things have happened since last I talked with you over a pint. Strange things. I'm not entirely sure what I've gotten myself into. I just know I need to finish what I've started; I need some answers.

Just after I spoke with you that night, that's when it began. I had a business meeting set up with a man named Blazidon One-Eye. He said when he approached me that he had seen soemthing in my eyes, something he recognized in all those he hired. I knew he just needed to hire some swords., and, well, that seems to be my trade. We met in a private room in this inn, and that's when I first met the people I'd be working with.

There was a human male named Nathaniel. He seemd to be at the heart of our task. You could tell he knew his way around a blade. There were two other human males there as well, a monk and one whose skills I couldn't quite put my finger on. The monk, Wong , was quiet and calm, it seemed a good sign. The other, Salatious he called himself, was loud, and perhaps even a little drunk. Yes, even at business. That did not seem as good a sign. Two others completed the group. An elf woman, Erin, I learned she was capable of hurling the art. And finally, a dwarf, Balgadek. I was not very pleased with that last, as you might imagine. He was filthy, and seemed more drunk than Salatious.

As we appraised one another, Nathaniel told us of the situation. He and some of his friends had been escorting a merchant train to Waterdeep, and been attacked by a group of orcs. Some were killed, some, he believed, were still alive, taken prisoner. We were hired to find what remained of the merchant's group. We all signed a contract with some small man whose name I can't remember. He appeared to work for Blazidon. Well, all of us signed right away except Erin. She did not seem to like the idea, but I managed to persuade her to join us.

We set out the next morning, heading northeast on the road away from Waterdeep. Not too much happened on our first day of travel. The next day things became more interesting.

Ah, but I see your glass is dry my friend. Excuse me while I go to refresh our cups.

[sir archely]

There you are my friend, and one for me. This storytelling business dries the mouth. Where was I? Ah yes...

After a peaceful night's rest, we set out on our second day of travel. Early in the day, we passed a merchant caravan headed for Waterdeep. They said they had seen wrecked wagons a while back, so we knew that we were on the right trail. Bidding them thanks, we traveled on. However, only a short while later we were attacked by a group of orcs. They were no match for us, and we dispatched them with minimal damage to ourselves. Their presence further confirmed that we were on the right track, and near the end of the day we found the destroyed wagons.

At the site, we found no bodies or other indications that Nathaniel's friends were near by. However, we did find wagon tracks heading south off the road into some forest. As it was getting dark, we made camp near the road, and kept an alert watch. The night passed without incident, and at first light we started off following the tracks.

After a short trip, we came to the end of the trail. In a clearing in the forest was a small wooden pallisade. It was circular, and the walls were about ten feet high. There was one gate, which the wagon tracks led directly into, and a lone orc had been set to watch. He was, however, sound asleep. I silenced his snoring with a single arrow. We then boosted Nathaniel over the wall, and he opened the gate for us. Inside the wall we found no more than a filthy well and a door set into the ground like a cellar door.

Without waiting for someone to check the door, the dwarf stupidly walked up to it and opened it. For his efforts he received a large crossbow bolt to the chest, and a short flight. I quickly moved to cover the door while Nathaniel tended to the unconscious dwarf. Nath and I both were forced to use up our healing potions, just to get the damn dwarf awake again. He then used some magical skill he possesses and was able to further heal himself.

Well, it certainly has gotten late. The fire is burning low, and I've almost put you to sleep. Don't worry, I will finish this tomorrow night, and the best part is yet to come.

[sir archely]

Good afternoon to you friend, have you moved since last night? Strange how you are always here when I am...In any event, my friends are all either resting or conducting business around the city. We're taking a little time to collect information it seems. I'll get to that later though. Right now, it just means i have a little time to waste.

If you'll recall, i left off last night just after the dwarf had been hit with the crossbow bolt. With him up and healed again, we started to venture down into the black tunnel that was revealed by the open door. Nathaniel struck a sunrod to light our way, and before long we were ambushed again by a group of orcs. We found after a bit that some wearing white robes were magic users. Even so, we dispatched them quickly. Moving in further we came across two curtained openings off either side of the main passage. While everyone else explored one side, I cautiously moved into the other. I should have stayed with the group. Confronting me was a pair of enormous rats. Now I knew why there weren't any orcs in the room. I shouted for some help from the others and went to work. I guess in the other room they had found a few sleeping orcs and made short work of them. Wong and Salatious came to help, and we did eventually prevail. However, the rats were a little tougher than the orcs, and we were a little worse for wear. Actually, more than a little. Wong was hurting badly, and neither Nathanial nor I were doing very well either.

We decided to split up at that point. Erin and the dwarf would stay back with Wong to give him a chance to rest. Salatious, Nathaniel and I would venture on a ways to see what was left up ahead. Nathaniel thought that we had perhaps eliminated the orcs in the camp, so danger would be low. After wandering a little ways further we found another set of openings; one to our right and one to our left. On the left was another curtained opening while on the right was a solid wooden door. I peered through the curtain to see a nearly empty room. Furs were piled high around the room, and a large chest and a table were the only furniture. On the table was a curious gauntlet. Sitting upright, it had a fanged mouth emblazoned on the palm. It seemed significant, but none of us knew why.

After our little bit of scouting we decided it was time to return to our companions and inform them of what we had found. None of them knew the significance of the gauntlet either. The dwarf healed Wong a little bit more, and the entire group returned to the curtained room. I found out the true nature of Salatious' skills here, as he unlocked the chest for us in no time. Inside were assorted weapons which we resolved to pick up or destroy later. Nathaniel grabbed the gauntlet, and we went across the hall to the wooden door. Salatious opened it, and inside we saw a room with carpeting, and red wood panneling. It seemed to be a writing room, with a large oaken desk and padded chair in the middle. On the far wall was another door. I watched the far door with my bow while Nathaniel and Salatious examined the desk. Finding a letter, Nathaniel read it softly aloud. It read:

Bahnrah,
Will arrive shortly. Plenty of goods to add to the construction. I've managed to relieve the gauntlet from a band of swordslingers, but am no closer to finding the fragment. I intend to see that you are holding up your end and then I shall leave for Undermountain to oversee the search myself. The construction must be finished before it is found, or you will face the Darkbringer's fury. Keep only the soldiers you need, use the rest.
MB

While most of this is probably incomprehensible to you, it was also mostly gibberish to us. Who was Bahnrah? Construction? Darkbringer? Fragment? The only things we knew now were that the gauntlet we had was important somehow, and Nathaniel thought that MB perhaps stood for Mari Brightstar, the merchant that he was employed by in the first place. This letter seemed to just bring up more questions than it answered. Fortunately we were about to find a source of some of the answers. Before moving to the next door, Salatious did manage to find a dagger with a gold-wrapped hilt in the desk.

The next room was a nice bedroom, similar to the room we were just in with carpet and red wood panneling. A four-poster bed, a chest of drawers and a large armoire filled in the space. Salatious immediately went to examine the armoire, and jumped when he heard some sort of noise coming from inside it. I moved to cover it with my bow, Nathaniel drew his falchion, and Wong opened it. Cringing inside, almost buried in clothes, was a tiny human male. He would not stop whining about how he did not want to die, and wouldn't come out of the armoire. All we got out of him at that point was that he was a scribe. My companions and I continuously assured him of his safety if he would only get out of the armoire, but he just would not listen. Growing impatient with the whole situation, I lowered my bow, grabbed the man, and pulled him out. He promptly fainted. Taking him with us we left a portion of the tunnels unexplored and made our way back towards Waterdeep.

And now, my friend, it is time we got something to eat. I will finish the story a later tonight.